Well, we've made it! Today is Christmas eve, your gifts are wrapped and under your tree, the cookies are baked, the halls are decked, and now it's time to relax and watch A Christmas Story on TBS. I'm glad you have joined with me in counting down to the big day, this is my favorite time of year, and I hope I added a little joy and fun to your Holiday season. Anacapa Fine Yarns will be open today from 10am-2pm, and will reopen on Tuesday, December 27th. From all of us here at Anacapa Fine Yarns, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Years, and Happy anything else! We greatly appreciate all our wonderful customers, and we are lucky to have you!

It's time for antoher Free Pattern Friday! Yesterday I talked about Malabrigo Caracol, and today's free pattern takes one skein, check out the Last-Minute Caracol Slippers:

I wanted to design a project for you today (the Friday before Christmas) that you can get done in just a few hours. If you need a quick last-minute gift, these slippers will be finished before you know it! All you need is a skein of Caracol and some size 11 needles, and you can whip up a cute pair of slippers either for you, or give them as a gift!

Anacapa Fine Yarns will be open today (Friday, December 23rd) from 10am-5pm, and tomorrow (Saturday, December 24th) from 10am-2pm for any last minute yarn-shopping needs. Grab a skein of Caracol and you can have a cute new pair of slippers for Christmas morning.

I have another awesome yarn that I want to spotlight for you today, it's Malabrigo's new Caracol.

When Caracol came in the shop, we were so excited about it, it's so unique and fun! It looks like stained glass when it's knitted up, and the addition of the small strand of black thread wrapped around the yarn base really highlights the gorgeous handyed colorways from Malabrigo. It's the same yardage and weight as Malabrigo Rasta, so any pattern that calls for Rasta could be made with Caracol instead! Here are some of my favorite patterns designed to be knit in Caracol.

And remember - Tomorrow is Free Pattern Friday, and my free pattern for the week will be made with one skein of Caracol, so be sure to come back tomorrow and check it out!

Have you seen all the cute knitted and crocheted wreat patterns there are on Ravelry? I didn't even know that they had a pattern category for wreaths, and now I want to make one! Here are some cute ones I found:

If you want to explore other patterns for wreaths, click here! I have a pretty fall wreath I made with pumpkins on it, and a christmasy white wreath, but I need a Spring and a Summer wreath, I'm off to go peruse Ravelry a bit more...

It's time for another Free Pattern Friday! I was gifted a skein of Malabrigo Rios in a beautiful purple color recently that I needed to work with right away, so I took a simple stitch pattern and some size 9 needles and went to work! When I ran out of yarn, I grafted the ends together and I had a cowl! If you have a lovely skein of worsted-weight something sitting around that you don't know what to do with, maybe this cowl is perfect for you!

This cowl uses a simple stitch pattern that we recommend a lot for scarves because it's easy to knit but not too boring. I used a provisional cast on, knit until I was out of yarn, twisted my scarf once, then grafted the ends together to form a cowl. This twist makes it lay in a flattering way when you wear it.

Alegria is a sock or fingering weight yarn, made with 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. It comes in both semi-solid and variegated colorways, and is machine washable. I know a lot of people love to use it for socks, but it also makes great accesories like shawls and scarves because it is so soft! It's also great for baby clothes, sweaters, and lots more!

This past weekend was our Annual Holiday Party and Foodshare Drive! Thank you to everyone who came and spent a fun day with us, and to everyone who donated to Foodshare. With your help, we were able to write a check to Foodshare for over $1000, and we couldn't have done that without you, so thank you very much!

We also had our Handmade Holiday Ornament Exchange! This is always a really fun event, and I wanted to share with you all the photos from our Exchange!

If you love Christmas as much as I do, you may also have 6 different Christmas-themed Pinterest boards. One is for gift-wrap inspiration, one is ideas for decorating, one is for handmande ornament ideas, and another one is dedicated exclusively to Christmas Cookies! I was perusing my Christmas Cookie board on Pinterest the other day and thought it would be fun to share some recipes I found for cookies! I know this has nothing to do with yarn or knitting, but I know a lot of crafters also love to bake, I know I do! Click any image below to go to the recipe!

Last week's gift guide was all about project bags and knitting bags, this week we are going to talk about YARN! If you know a knitter and want to get them a special skein of yarn as a gift, or maybe you need ideas of gifts that you want that you can tell your family to get you, check out some of my picks for you below! I know I would be happy if any of these yarns ended up in my stocking!

Everyone knows Madelinetosh Merino Light is amazing, and good news, we just restocked! Merino Light is 100% merino wool handdyed in the most amazing colors! It's perfect for shawls, cowls, sweaters, almost everything!

Have you had the chance to feel Finito? It feels like cashmere, although it's not! It's superfine merino wool, and is so soft and snuggly, you can't resist rubbing your face on it! Make a cowl with it and you'll be snuggly warm!

Ava is the latest addition to Anzula's line of Merino/Cashmere/Nylon yarns. Ava is sport weight, and we have some gorgeous semisolid colors in stock. One beautiful skein would make an amazing hat or cowl.

Alegria is a super soft blend of merino wool and nylon, making it great for sock knitting, but it also works well for accessories like shawls, hats, scarves, cowls, and more! It also comes in some really fun colors.

Yesterday I posted a hat knit in Brioche Stitch. I love brioche stitch, and I know a lot of you do too, but it can be a little scary if you haven't tried it before. Brioche stitch does take a little concentration, but once you get the hang of it it gets easier and easier! I have a quick video tutorial today to help you with some basic brioche decreases, like the ones used at the top of the Briochey hat.